Aphrodite Urania

For other uses, see Urania (disambiguation).
Venus Urania (Christian Griepenkerl, 1878)

Aphrodite Urania (Ancient Greek: Οὐρανία) was an epithet of the Greek goddess Aphrodite, signifying "heavenly" or "spiritual", to distinguish her from her more earthly aspect of Aphrodite Pandemos, "Aphrodite for all the people".[1] The two were used (mostly in literature) to differentiate the more "celestial" love of body and soul from purely physical lust. Plato represented her as a daughter of the Greek god Uranus, conceived and born without a mother.[2][3] According to Hesiod, she was born from the severed genitals of Uranus and emerged from the sea foam.[4] Wine was not used in the libations offered to her.[5][6][7] According to Herodotus, the Arabs called this aspect of the goddess "Alitta" or "Alilat" (Ἀλίττα or Ἀλιλάτ).[8][9]

Aphrodite Urania was represented in Greek art with a swan, a tortoise or a globe.[10]

See also

Notes

  1. ↑  Schmitz, Leonhard (1870). "Urania 3.". In Smith, William. Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology 3. Little, Brown and Company. p. 1284.
  2. ↑ Plato, Symposium
  3. ↑ Xenophon, Symposium 8. § 9.
  4. ↑ Hesiod, Theogony 188–206
  5. ↑ Scholiast, ad Soph. Oed. Col. 101
  6. ↑ Herodotus, i. 105
  7. ↑ Suda, s.v. νηφάλια
  8. ↑ Herodotus, i. 131., iii. 8
  9. ↑  Schmitz, Leonhard (1870). "Alitta". In Smith, William. Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology 1. Little, Brown and Company. p. 132.
  10. ↑  Freese, John Henry (1911). "Aphrodite". In Chisholm, Hugh. Encyclopædia Britannica 2 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 167.

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